West Licking Fire District encourages citizens learn CPR, AED use

In 2015 the West Licking Fire District developed a plan to increase the survivability of V-Fib cardiac arrest patients in the community.

This plan is called the CASP, Cardiac Arrest Survivability Plan. The Fire District started gathering information on response times and availability of auomated external defibrillators or AED’s within the community.

The average response time in the District was 6:54, with statistics showing if a response to a cardiac event was under 6 minutes, there could be a drastic increase in survivability. Research also shows when CPR and an AED were used by a citizen, the chances of survivability increased even more.

The District began an initiative to reduce response times and teach CPR to as many citizens as possible.

The District Administration worked with the Fire Board members to open a substation on Taylor Road, in hopes to reduce response times.

The response times have reduced from 8:37 to 5:32 within the area. Statistics also revealed a lengthy response time in the Northern Pataskala and Jersey Township area.

The average response time within that area is 10 minutes. The District predicts a 50 percent reduction in response times in that area due to the opening of a new substation in September.

All cardiac arrest data comes from a non-profit organization called Cardiac Arrest Registry (CARES). The data is compared nationwide, consisting of both urban and rural areas.

Cardiac arrests where CPR and AED’s were used, the National Average for 2017 is 36.5 percent compared to a 66.7 percent average for West Licking Fire. The 2017 National Average for cardiac arrest survivability when no bystander CPR or AED was used is 32.6 percent. West Licking Fire comes in with an average of 40.0 percent.

The biggest message attained from this information is that several factors can influence these statistic but the solid two most important things are not only the response times from the fire department, but the equally important bystander CPR and AED availability.

Learn CPR and AED use. Several lives may depend on it.

If you have any questions or comments, please call the District Administrative office at 740-927-8600.